February 19, 2018
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Campus mourns loss of DZ, golf team member Delta Zeta pres: “It just doesn’t feel like she’s really gone, it just feels like she’s on a long vacation.” SUMMER LEBEL Sports Editor
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Internet disruption prompts investigation Firewall problem leads to isolation of cause
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Shreena Bhakta dressed up with her fellow Delta Zeta sisters as cows during their sisterhood retreat. Bhakta made an effort to attend every event she could, Glava said.
Shreena Bhakta, a member of the women’s golf team and a sister at Delta Zeta, passed away in her Northside apartment on Jan. 31. In remembrance of the EMAC sophomore, Delta Zeta painted the spirit rocks with an elephant on Feb. 5. Elephants were Bhakta’s favorite animal, said marketing junior Mackenzie Glava, who serves as Delta Zeta’s president. “We had everyone paint their hands black and put it on the rock around (the elephant),” Glava said. “It was to symbolize all the people that she truly touched within her time here.” The sisters of Delta Zeta are helping each other through their grief in the wake of Bhakta’s passing, Glava said. “It just doesn’t feel like she’s really gone,” she said. “It just feels like she’s on a long vacation.”
Bhakta actively attended sorority events, including turtle dates – named after the sorority’s mascot – where sisters socialize with each other. “She truly made an effort to come to every single one, to just be there for anyone that needed it and just have as much fun as she could with the people that surrounded her,” Glava said. In addition to her commitment to Delta Zeta, Bhakta played with the UTD women’s golf team. Bhakta was completely deaf in one ear and partially deaf in the other. She was the only deaf golfer at UTD. “The fact that she had to overcome being deaf at birth is a tribute to what she was able to do, and to come to this school, of all schools, to come to play sports and to get her academics speaks volumes,” Athletic Director
→ SEE SHREENA, PAGE 7
Jindal offers freshmen full ride JSOM partners with Dallas ISD in new program to provide mentors, tutoring for high school students
ETHAN CHRISTOPHER | MERCURY STAFF
BHARGAV ARIMILLI Life & Arts Editor
The UTD campus lost internet connectivity for 12 hours last month, prompting an investigation from the Office of Information Technology. OIT Associate Vice President and Chief Technology Officer Brian Dourty said the first indication of a network issue occurred Jan. 20 at 1:58 p.m., when the office received an automatic notification about a problem with connecting to Galaxy. He said within 30 minutes of the first notification, OIT engineers were on site to troubleshoot. “The symptoms really manifested themselves as more of a firewall problem than a router problem, initially,” Dourty said. Engineers traced the network issue to a border router, a piece of equipment serving as a central receiving point for internet access from LEARN and UT System, UTD’s two internet service providers. As the situation became apparent, Cisco, UTD’s networking equipment manufacturer, sent engineers to help investigate. Dourty said this outage was unusual compared to previous ones. “The symptoms were very odd,” he said. “It wasn’t a complete failure. Some connectivity would go through and other connectivity wouldn’t.” Following a recommendation from Cisco, OIT engineers rebooted the system at 7 p.m., but were unsuccessful in restoring connectivity. “In any sort of troubleshooting effort, the goal is to isolate as many of the variables as possible, so you can really zero in on what the problem is,” Dourty said. “On a piece of equipment like this, it’s really complex. That’s not an easy thing to do.” According to OIT’s Twitter account, network access was restored at 12:03 a.m. on Jan. 21, but there were still intermittent service interruptions as engineers worked to replace the faulty equipment. The outage was fully re-
→ SEE INTERNET, PAGE 7
SCOTT BOOTH | COURTESY
High school students interested in the Jindal Young Scholars program tour Residence Hall West as Residential Life Coordinator Cody Queen (right) shows them the amenitites and the model dorm that UTD has to offer. CINDY FOLEFACK News Editor
In an effort to improve graduation and post-secondary education rates among lower-income communities, one UTD school is partnering with local high schools to provide students with a path to success. Students begin the program in their freshman year, and those who meet the program’s requirements upon graduation, including a high GPA, campus visits and participation in mentoring programs from Naveen Jindal School of Management students, are eligible for a full scholarship to JSOM. The School of Management partnered with the Dallas Independent School District to form the Jindal Young Scholars Program, holding the program’s kickoff event in early December. JSOM Dean Hasan Pirkul, who led the project, said the program is unlike existing merit-based aid programs, such as the Academic Excellence Scholarship. “The scholarship is only at the very end and a small part of (the program),” Pirkul said. “I want to make sure that we engage the high school students and number one, give them hope, because they will know that if they’re success-
ful, they get a scholarship. Number two, help them get there.” According to Dallas ISD, 88 percent of their students are from economically disadvantaged homes while 56 percent of its 2015 graduating class went on to college. Pirkul said the program is meant to help students starting in their freshman year and continue throughout high school until they graduate, at which point they’re eligible for the scholarship portion of the program. “It’s important to set the right goals, and we’re trying to get those kids, at that young age, to set the right goals for themselves,” Pirkul said. “So whatever they need to succeed, we want to make sure we are able, leveraging our own student body and our industry advisors, and partnering with others to make sure that they have it in place.” 84 students from the five participating high schools attended the kickoff event where they toured the campus, dined at Residence Hall West and met with representatives from UTD organizations. Pirkul said he’s received positive feedback from students and school administrators so far. “They love it,” he said. “They’re very
→ SEE SCHOLAR, PAGE 7
SCOTT BOOTH | COURTESY
During the tour, the high school students had the opportunity to hear from a panel of UTD students, including orientation leader and supply chain management sophomore Charlie Hooper.
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THE MERCURY UTDMERCURY.COM Volume XXXVIII No. 19
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NEWS
THE MERCURY | FEB. 19, 2018
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Professor directs choir for homeless people Dallas Street Choir provides place for street community to come together, show creative abilities through performances NEIL BHAMOO Mercury Staff
A UTD professor provides an opportunity for the underprivileged to hone their creative abilities through the choir he teaches every week. Choir Director and professor of vocal music Jonathan Palant started the Dallas Street Choir three years ago. They meet weekly, and the choir provides a chance for the singers to have fun, eat snacks and sing with fellow members of the street community. Since the beginning of the choir, the group has performed at countless local and state-wide concerts, including Carnegie Hall. “A piece of music called a Street Requiem was sent to me in 2014, and it was a piece to remember those who had died living homeless,” Palant said. “I wanted to do it with my community group, but it felt disingenuous to not include the street community.” Palant expected to only work on the Street Requiem with his choir for 15 weeks, but they asked him what they would be doing beyond the concert. Singing with the Dallas Street Choir became a regular occurrence for interested members of the community. However, having to live a life without a stable home caused issues for the singers and Palant. “The biggest obstacle would be consistency,” Palant said. “By nature, the homeless community is a very transient community, so we’re always welcoming new singers. When we agree to do a performance, I never know who’s going to show up for that performance.” The members of the street choir are not required to attend concerts or
Green Ad Hoc Committee Members Appointed Representatives of the Green Ad Hoc committee, formed to delegate funds for green initiatives around campus, are now officially appointed. The committee includes a mix of students, faculty and staff, including Arts and Technology Associate Dean Lisa Bell, Student Program Coordinator Mackenzie Hunter and Administrative Project Coordinator Evan Paret. Submissions for proposed Green Initiative projects will be accepted until March 9, after which the committee will finalize the fund allocation. Committee members are also in the process of distributing UTD green proposal flyers in residence halls and around campus to educate students on the necessary requirements for prospective green projects.
MICHAEL STOUT | MERCURY STAFF
Professor Jonathan Palant directs the UTD University Choir during rehearsal on Feb. 13. Palant also directs a Dallas Street Choir for homeless people which he started three years ago. Last year, the street choir sang at Carnegie Hall.
weekly practices, as they haven’t actually signed up for the choir — they instead choose to come when they want. Palant has structured the choir in a way that there is no individual the choir is relies on to perform well. Instead, the music relies on the group as a whole. “We sing in unison and don’t do much harmony at all, so if a singer is not there, there’s always someone to pick up the pieces,” Palant said. “So
Lending Libraries The Academic Affairs committee proposed the creation of a lending library on campus, also known as the “Take One, Leave One” program. It encourages reading by allowing students to take a book of their choosing in return for leaving another behind. The committee’s members hope to place the first of these libraries in the Student Union Starbucks, in order to make it easily accessible to all students. The members will be requesting an allocation of SG funds to purchase enough books to jumpstart the new program. Updated Online Resources The Academic Affairs committee proposed the addition of resume templates to each school’s website, a resource that can presently only be found on the page for the School of Management. Additionally, the Student Af-
consistency has been a unique obstacle, but it’s not been something that has kept us down.” Palant’s project provides opportunities for the less fortunate, such as having something to look forward to each week and occasionally being able to stay in warm and comfortable beds for a night during concerts. The crowning achievement of the choir so far has been performing at Carnegie Hall.
fairs committee is working with the Student Counseling Center and the Office of Information Technology to add mental health resources onto UTD’s eLearning page, with hopes of making the information customizable to each student’s personal needs.
“Going to Carnegie Hall last June, the members of the choir were very excited,” Palant said. “We had several singers who had never been out of the state of Texas. To walk out onto that stage and feel the magnitude of that venue was powerful. And then to have success and be applauded for being there, I think that was really an important night in all our lives.” Among the planned local performanc-
es, Palant said members of the Dallas Street Choir want to hold a concert on campus, collaborating with UTD’s dance department and choirs, for the students to be able to listen to the voices of people with really unique stories. “We always strive to sing beautifully and to improve,” Palant said. “Is it always beautiful? No, but the stories behind our singing, the energy and passion, are really beautiful.”
Students create speech team UTD Speech enables members to develop speaking skills, critical thinking in competitions
24-Hour Dining Services The Residential Student Affairs committee will be going before the Campus Housing Advisory committee this Friday with a proposal for the implementation of 24-hour dining services in Dining Hall West. The proposal involves two main requests: one which would involve extending the dining hall hours until midnight as soon as possible, and the second, allowing for roundthe-clock options during finals week. Danni Yang, the committee chair, encourages all students to utilize the extending hours in order to prove that the change is profitable and reflective of student’s wishes. ANTHONY MCNAIR | MERCURY STAFF
TOMMY TAN Mercury Staff
GRAPHICS BY: CHRISTINA JIA PHOTOS BY: CAROLINA ALVAREZ
Students at UTD created a new competitive speech team. After discovering UTD didn’t have a speech team, Hadia Zahid, business administration freshman and president of UTD Speech, alongside advisor Bradley Skiles, a manager at the Office of Information Technology, set out last fall to create UTD Speech. Skiles, who has experience in both competing and coaching competitive speech, said at some schools, the speech teams and debate teams work closely together. Upon arriving at UTD, he was surprised at the absence of a speech team. “I think part of that is we don’t have a speech communication department per se, and our student organizations are centrally managed,” Skiles said. “I think if we had a Ph.D. program in communications, we would likely have a speech team, but then again, it was surprising we didn’t have one. But it’s time we got started.” While UTD does not have a central communication department, Skiles said that in surveys done with college recruiters, every year, one of the most soughtafter skills is communication ability. In addition to the marketability benefits of developing speaking abilities, students get to talk about issues that they feel passionate about, Zahid
said. Competitors have the option of choosing from a wide variety of topics, including Islamophobia, juvenile incarceration, abortions and other controversial topics. “My last year’s speech was all about the veterans’ stigma, so the idea that veterans with mental health disorders are basically stigmatized in society,” said Shannon Cotts, vice president of UTD Speech. “They’re viewed as not human. They’re viewed as being damaged, broken ... And I personally have family members who were veterans and had PTSD, so that was something that was very near and true to me that I took to competition and then went as far as I possibly could with it.” Like Skiles, Zahid has previous experience in speech, and was captain of her high school speech team. She said her experiences there were important in motivating her towards starting UTD Speech. “I really think public speaking and writing your own speeches are two skills that I learned a lot from it,” Zahid said. “And I thought that other people should learn from it more, and it’s something that’s really important to me because that’s how I gained my own voice. So I thought that I wanted to continue that through my college years and decided to make this club.” Competitive speech is divided into
→ SEE SPEECH, PAGE 7
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FEB. 19, 2018 | THE MERCURY | UTDMERCURY.COM
LIFE&ARTS
REDEFINING ‘REFUGEE’ Student channels past experience as refugee into political activism
STORY BY: BHARGAV ARIMILLI | LIFE & ARTS EDITOR PHOTO BY: AMBARINA HASTA | MERCURY STAFF
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hen Henry Justiniano raised his right hand and recited the oath of allegiance at his U.S. naturalization ceremony in November, he felt like nothing had changed. “I saw all the people around me,” he said. “They were from different countries and they were so excited. But for me, I always saw myself as American.” Justiniano, a mechanical engineering sophomore, came to the United States in 1989 at the age of 4, fleeing the civil war in El Salvador. To clear U.S. immigration at the Mexican-American border in Brownsville, Texas, Justiniano used a friend’s passport. “I remember them training me to say his name,” he said. “At 4 years old, I had no choice. I just did what the grown-ups told me to do.” After reuniting with his mother and sister in Dallas, he was given refugee status under the Nicaraguan Adjustment and Central American Relief Act, a 1997
Henry Justiniano, a mechanical engineering sophomore, came to the United States in 1989 as a refugee from El Salvador. Since then, he has served in the military and become a naturalized citizen.
law that provided immigration benefits and relief from deportation for refugees from former Soviet bloc nations in Central America. Justiniano and his family were eventually able to obtain permanent residency. Since then, he assumed an American identity and didn’t look back — until now, as he begins to piece together the parts of his life before his arrival in the United States. *** Justiniano said his mother didn’t speak Spanish at home or didn’t talk about her time in El Salvador, perhaps in an attempt to move on from her previous life and focus on her new one. As a child, he wasn’t aware of his refugee status.
“I would tell my (younger) self to be an SMU student hosting a bake sale to more aware that I wasn’t from here,” protest affirmative action told him he was only admitted to he said. “I didn’t think the school on account about it much until We’re here for of his citizenship status now. I would tell myself and race. to embrace the culture. a reason. Some “They didn’t see me I’m doing that now, and of us didn’t want the same,” Justiniano it’s a little harder.” said. “I went home Justiniano said he to leave. Some of that day and thought didn’t face discriminaus didn’t have a about what I could tion during his childchoice. do for people to see hood on account of me the same. What do being a refugee, but — Henry Justiniano, people respect here, that he was reminded sophomore with no questions of it at one point durasked? The military.” ing a college visit to He enlisted in the Southern Methodist University in 2004. While on a tour Navy and served for four years at Joint for incoming freshmen, Justiniano said Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort
Story, an amphibious base in Virginia. The Department of Defense permits non-U.S. citizens holding permanent residency to join the armed forces, but prevents them from occupying positions requiring a security clearance. In addition, permanent residents who serve in the military are eligible for an expedited and fee-free naturalization process. Justiniano said he wasn’t treated differently as a non-U.S. citizen serving in the Navy. “Everyone saw me as a brother and as an American because I was serving for the U.S.,” he said. Justiniano submitted his naturalization paperwork last year on July 4 — a date he chose deliberately — and
completed the process in November. He said his first act as a U.S. citizen would be to use his vote in Texas’ March 6 elections to stand in solidarity with DACA recipients and refugees across the country facing uncertain futures. “I’ve always felt like I was American,” he said. “The only thing that was different was that it wasn’t on paper. DACA recipients and refugees see themselves as Americans. I know it feels.” *** Now, as a citizen, Justiniano said he has found himself increasingly at odds with fellow members of the Republican party who oppose immigration
→ SEE REFUGEE, PAGE 5
SG launches art initiative New projects include outdoor mural displayed on School of Management building DEV THIMMISETTY Mercury Staff
The Student Government vice president is implementing three projects around campus to increase the presence of art at UTD. Alex Holcomb, SG vice president and economics junior, said the art initiative could help students become more wellrounded from their UTD experience. “As a liberal art major, I think it’s no secret that arts and performance is underrepresented at our school,” he said. “The goal with the art initiative is that it not only gives a place for arts majors to display their work, but that the finance major or the mechanical
engineering major who maybe does some art on the side can feel comfortable expressing that.” Holcomb placed a piano outside the Student Union near the food truck area as the first step towards his art goals. He said the piano was an important step towards improving the lives of art and performance majors. “The largest complaint out of the performing arts was that there wasn’t enough space for performing, or even practicing, really,” he said. “We just wanted to create another space for them to come up and perform.” The piano is estimated to last for about five years because of aging and weathering. Holcomb said if student
support was high enough, then more pianos could be distributed on campus. Holcomb also has two other works in progress as a part of his art initiative. One is a mural on the JSOM building with geometric shapes forming the letters UTD. The mural is expected to go up on the building’s north wall by the end of February. The idea for the mural came from a graduate art student’s capstone project. “We had been talking about trying to get more art on campus, so this seemed like a really good idea,” Holcomb said. For the other project, he wants to
NADINE OMEIS | MERCURY STAFF
→ SEE INITIATIVE, PAGE 5
ATEC junior Allison Wuensch practices the song “Lost Boy” on the new piano outside of the SU. The piano was recently added as part of SG’s art initiative.
Student art featured in exhibit ATEC graduate submits two technology-inspired artworks to gallery in Frisco MADELEINE KEITH Mercury Staff
NOAH WHITEHEAD | MERCURY STAFF
ATEC graduate student Denise Lion combines physical mediums to create her art pieces. Lion’s work is on display at Gallery 8680 in Frisco during the RED 2018 exhibition.
A graduate student’s art is now on display at an exhibition in Frisco. Mixing mediums of electronic fragments, oil paint and acrylics, arts and technology graduate student Denise Lion created two separate pieces focusing on the vibrant color red with two very distinct inspirations. The first entry to Frisco’s Gallery 8680 exhibition “RED” is titled “Overwhelmed Conclusions,” and centers around one of Lion’s favorite passions — technology. “With my art, I am always preoccupied with the rapid rise of technology,” Lion said. “We don’t talk much with each other anymore because we’re all busy on our phones. I’m not necessarily saying it’s bad or good but it’s something we have to consider and ask ‘Why is it that we’re doing this?’” Although Lion often incorporates electronic fragments into her creations, her second piece diverges from her usual style, conveying within its organic and traditionalist design a message far more personal and
introspective. For “Dimensionality with Reality,” her second entry into the exhibit, she used her canvas to portray a recent heartbreak within her life. “I lost my husband about a year and a half ago, which was very painful, so I used the red as the pain and suffering of it,” she said. “But, as you can see, there’s also some light going through (the piece) which says that things have become much better, life has resolved itself, and I’ve accepted that we’re all born and we all die eventually and sometimes it is too early.” Lion began her work as an artist more than a decade ago, when her two sons went to high school, and Lion said she realized a desire to fulfill her own needs and pursue her aspirations for art. Since then, she has since put in over five hours of work each day to further advance her artistry and establish her style. She said that no matter the technique being used or skill level achieved, what’s most important to her is the emotion that her pieces extol. “Sometimes I struggle with the idea of what a painting means,” she said. “People always want to know what it means, and I
believe that it’s much more about the emotion that you’re conveying. It’s more my emotions than anything else. People ask me when it is that a piece is done and I say, ‘When I don’t hurt anymore.’” The pieces that Lion has displayed in “RED” will be the first of many exhibitions she intends to participate in this year. She also submitted pieces to be included in an exhibit within the Frisco Discovery Center titled “Fresh Start,” and won first place for her creations. Lion’s work will also be involved in a multimedia event featuring movie soundtracks such as “Star Wars” and “Star Trek,” incorporated with the creations of local Dallas artists. For Lion, opportunities such as this allow her to further experiment with what she refers to as a crossing of the art and technology barrier, a pursuit she hopes someday will become a permanent career. “Sometimes, you put things that you want to do in life aside and you’re just so money motivated that we forget what it is that makes us happy,” she said. “And what makes me happy is art.”
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THE MERCURY | FEB. 19, 2018
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Sophomore launches baking business Student creates intricate cakes, brownies to fundraise for UTD cultural group AYOUNG JO Mercury Staff
A UTD student utilizes her talent for baking to run a personal baking business. Neuroscience sophomore Devi Nair has been baking since she was a toddler. Now, as the oldest of her nine cousins, she often bakes with her younger cousins when they get together. Recently, Nair has been putting her talent to work in order to raise money for UTD’s Indian Cultural Association and to start her own business. Nair started her baking business in summer 2017, when she was asked to bake a cake for Southlake Plastic Surgery. Nair said that creating her business, Devi Cakes, was intimidating at first because she started it entirely on social media. “I had no idea what people would think, and was worried I’d get made fun
of for having a separate account just for baking,” Nair said. “But once it got started, everyone was super encouraging.” She also uses her talent to fundraise for the ICA. The organization hosts Aaja Nachle, a collegiate Bollywood-fusion dance competition, and Nair has made various baked goods, such as Bundt cakes, cheesecakes and brownies to raise money to prepare for the national event. Because she is a pre-med student before a baker, Nair does not take more than two orders per week, and her friends have helped her with baking during the times she needed extra sets of hands. “There have been nights when my friends have been at my apartment until 3 o’clock in the morning helping me bake for mass orders,” Nair said. “They help me out so much.”
Nair’s baking business is growing through word-of-mouth and social media presence. She receives requests from friends, and often their family members to bake for birthdays, anniversaries and parties. She said she has recently been asked to make a wedding cake and is excited. “My dad is in the field of business, and he’s like, ‘Wow, look at you!’” Nair said. “I guess he likes that I’m kind of following in his footsteps and kind of my mom’s, because my mom is a doctor.” Cakes from Devi Cakes range from $30 to $60, and a dozen cupcakes sell for about $15, depending on how labor-intensive and time consuming it is for her to perfect the decoration details. Customers call her
→ SEE BAKING, PAGE 8
NADINE OMEIS | MERCURY STAFF
Neuroscience sophomore Devi Nair launched her baking business in summer 2017. Nair also bakes to fundraise for UTD’s Indian Cultural Association.
Bridging the gap Group focuses on intersection between art, science DONIA BOSAK-BARANI Mercury Staff
SYMBIOSIS | COURTESY
Symbiosis, a group that focuses on the arts and sciences, sold origami figures to fundraise for Hurricane Harvey relief efforts.
→ REFUGEE
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amnesty of any kind. “I was raised conservative, but I can’t get rid of feeling empathy for … (DACA recipients) because I’ve kind of been in the same shoes,” he said. For Justiniano, the conversations he has had with fellow conservatives have been difficult. “It rubs me the wrong way when conservatives say, ‘Go away, you’re illegal. Do it the right way,’” he said. “We’re here for a reason.
→ INITIATIVE
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have student-produced art rotating in and out of a gallery in the SU. “What I’m trying to do is have a com-
Some of us didn’t want to leave. Some of us didn’t have a choice.” A Feb. 14 CNBC report revealed that the Trump administration is planning to scale down refugee resettlement programs in more than 60 offices across the nation. A State Department spokeswoman said in an email to Reuters on Feb. 14 that the drop in the number of refugees entering the country in 2018 no longer necessitated the operation of all 324 resettlement offices in the country. In Texas, 7 of the 25 offices were affected.
Justiniano said the news motivated him to get involved in community activism. “It’s not surprising,” he said. “I’m going to try to do my best to get people to vote. Our age group is a big part of the population, but everyone says, ‘I’m not going to vote because my vote isn’t going to count.’” Justiniano crossed party lines and began campaigning for Beto O’Rourke, the Democratic contender against incumbent Ted Cruz.
mittee made up of faculty and students that will curate and approve art to be put up in the SU,” he said. “We can probably get around 18 spots for art made by students that we can rotate out on a semesterly basis or something like that.”
A student-run campus organization has decided to take initiative to introduce art education into science-focused degree programs. Symbiosis is a new organization focusing on combining the arts and sciences. Students often maintain a narrow focus on academic goals based on their school of study and don’t venture out of their comfort zone, said Katherine Mayfield, a neuroscience junior and public relations chair. Because of this schism, Symbiosis emphasizes the ways in which two separate disciplines interrelate, both within and independent of academia by giving students an opportunity to engage in artistic projects and enrichment when their degree plans don’t accommodate art. “We want to overcome the gap be-
tween the arts and the sciences, both in our UTD community and also outreach in the Dallas area and wider community, to talk about how art can be beneficial in your everyday life but also in the sciences, the medical field and beyond, and how we can bring it to people in our community,” Mayfield said. Members participate in crafting events, fundraisers and lecture series given by associated professors. Last semester, they crafted cards and provided art supplies for kids in hospitals, applied for a grant to raise money to create kits for Dallas Independent School District elementary schools and fundraised for Hurricane Harvey relief efforts. This semester, however, the officers are featuring
→ SEE SYMBIOSIS, PAGE 8
*** Through his experiences with natural-
ization and political activism, Justiniano said he began to piece together memories of his childhood in San Salvador, the capital city of El Salvador, in an effort to reclaim part of his identity. “I told (my uncle) about a couple of dreams I had about bombs going off, and he said, ‘No, that really happened,’” Justiniano said. “The fighting was just outside of our house. You could hear it all.” His interest in his heritage prompted him to search for members of his family who remained in El Salvador. In 2013,
he was able to get in contact with his biological father. Justiniano said he plans to return to El Salvador after graduating in 2019 to meet his biological father for the first time. For the time being, however, Justiniano said he’s working to ensure DACA recipients and refugees feel like they belong. “We’re voting for them,” he said. “There’s a lot more people who are willing to help than there’s people not willing to help. We’re just in a place right now where the minority is in power.”
The biggest challenge is the time spent working through the bureaucracy, Holcomb said. Even when the proposals and policies are approved, it still takes a significant chunk of time for the plan to actually be put in motion, he said.
However, he said the responses from the students and faculty has been overwhelmingly positive. “Honestly it’s been such a warm reception … it’s beyond what I would have hoped,” he said. “When I send emails regarding a policy,
faculty will email back, critiquing me, but also saying that they really love this project and they want to be kept updated, and that just gives me hope because I know that this will be carried on by other students and faculty even after this administration.”
THIS MONTH ON CAMPUS...
The Student Union & Activities Advisory Board hosted a Mardi Gras celebration on Feb. 13, featuring live music from the Inner City All Stars and food from A Taste of Louisiana, a local food truck. PHOTOS BY: NOAH WHITEHEAD | MERCURY STAFF
Members of the UTD community celebrated the opening of Synergy Park North 2 on Feb. 6. Speakers included executive vice president Hobson Wildenthal and vice president for administration Calvin Jamison. PHOTOS BY: WILLIAM LEGRONE | PHOTO EDITOR
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Alumni cyclists place in bike race
SPORTS
Comets finish season strong
Women’s basketball team ends regular season with eight consecutive victories before ASC tournament
Cyclists competed in Cedar Hill Race Festival
SEAN SPIESMAN | COURTESY
UTD alumnus Sean Spiesman (right) whooshes in a photo. He competed in both the mountain bike and road races. ANNA SCHAEFFER Mercury Staff
Two former UTD cycling team members used past training to place high in a local tournament. UTD alumni Flora Yan and Sean Spiesman competed in the Cedar Hill Race Festival on Feb. 3-4. Both graduates said their time at UTD played a role in their passion for the sport; during their time as Comets, they raced and trained as members of the cycling team. Spiesman and Yan placed high in their respective races at the Festival. Spiesman, who competed in the men’s mountain bike race and men’s road race, placed third and 11th, respectively. “This weekend’s results were pretty good for me,” Spiesman said. “I didn’t have many expectations because I haven’t competed since graduating. It was pretty cold and extremely windy, so it was very difficult.” Yan said she was excited to go out for her first race of the season in the women’s P12 event. On a 2-mile course, with elements such as a hairpin loop and a steep climb, she placed third after two cyclists from Austin. She plans to compete at the four-day Joe Martin Stage Race in Fayetteville with her team next. Yan began biking in high school and served as the president of the cycling team her sophomore and junior year. Now as a second-year medical student at UT Southwestern, she’s raced for organizations such as Dallas Racing, Fearless Femme and Papa John’s. “I really enjoyed bringing people into the sport and club, riding with the group every week, leading spin classes and traveling with everyone to training camp and to races,” Yan said. “My most favorite memory is from a fall 2015 training camp in Fayetteville, Arkansas. It was just riding with my friends, spending the whole day on the bike.” Spiesman began biking during high school in downtown Austin and continued biking at UTD, especially during his senior year. Although his training background was mainly in mountain biking, he raced exclusively on the road with UTD’s team and attended their yearly training camp. “My favorite memory with UTD cycling took place on our training trip to Arkansas sometime around Thanksgiving my senior year,” Spiesman said. “We all bonded because it was so cold and such a group effort for everybody to make it through.” Yan said biking is different from any sport she’s ever done because it is so dynamic, and it brings great joy to her life. “The intricacies and nuances of where you are in the pack, versus how the course can affect the race, versus what strengths are present within the group of riders at the moment — these all play a role in shaping how a race turns out,” Yan said. “I love how bike racing can be very cerebral, but also so exciting. Plus, the culture behind bike racing, the racers themselves — every time I go to a race I feel like I’m going to some sort of reunion.”
WILLIAM LEGRONE | PHOTO EDITOR
Sophomore guard Victoria Pena drives the ball to the net during a home game against East Texas Baptist Feb. 17. The Comets defeated the Tigers 78-68 in the last game of the regular season. UTD faces off against Hardin-Simmons Feb. 22 to start the ASC championship tournament. TRAVIS DICKERSON Mercury Staff
With the regular season finishing up, the women’s basketball team now looks to defend its championship title as the American Southwest Conference tournament draws near. The women’s basketball team enters the ASC tournament starting Feb. 22, this time as defending champions. The Comets wrapped up their season with an eighth consecutive win, a 7868 victory over East Texas Baptist on Feb. 17. UTD will serve as the host of the ASC tournament this year after hosting regional games in the last season’s NCAA tournament.
The team won the 2016-17 title in a decisive game against Louisiana College, ending with a score of 67-60. Assistant coach Natalie Marlowe said the team plans on keeping that title as it prepares to face off against the other teams in the East Division. “Anytime you play against a team two times in the regular season and again in the conference, it’s always a challenge,” Marlowe said. “But we’ve been preparing since the start of the season, so they’re ready to meet that adversity head on.” The team is also currently ranked No. 20 in the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association, tying with three other teams. The poll includes Division III teams from
around the country. Last year, the Comets were ranked No. 24 after winning the ASC championship, but dropped off the list following their first-round defeat in the Division III tournament. The team has kept a strong momentum throughout late January and early February, losing only once in the last 18 games of the regular season. During that stretch, the Comets had victories in both of their games against Louisiana College, the team they defeated in the ASC finals last year. They also won their Dec. 18 matchup against Hardin-Simmons 59-47, who the Comets will face in the opening round of the ASC tournament. Head coach Polly Thomason and senior
center Megan Badejo credit this to the team focusing on one game at a time. “I think by having this mindset, it helps with not being overwhelmed with what’s to come,” Badejo said. “If we were constantly thinking about the tournament and what we will face, we wouldn’t be putting adequate energy towards what we are currently facing with each game.” Thomason remains optimistic about the upcoming ASC championship, citing the team’s record so far this year. “January is always the hard month and we always feel like it’s just surviving throughout that month,” Thomason said. “Now we’re in February, it’s so much easier to focus and to see that end goal.”
Rugby team remains undefeated Comets headed back to Lone Star Conference playoffs after 7-0 season that included three shutouts YANNIS SHAFI Mercury Staff
The men’s rugby team qualified for the playoffs after going undefeated in the regular season for the fourth time in seven years. The Comets dominated their opponents throughout the season, winning by margins ranging from 41 points against LeTourneau to 101 against Southern Methodist University. The Comets have been well balanced on both sides of the ball. On offense, they have scored at least 50 points in each of the seven games they played. Defensively, the team gave up a total of 32 points this season, and limited three teams to 0 points. Caleb Yale, a junior 8-man, attributes the team’s success to coaching, stronger practices and game-planning strategies. “Our coaching has helped a lot,” he said. “They’ve brought some new fresh ideas and stuff to practice, which has helped change our game plan.” Head coach Tony Wagner utilized his prior experiences as both a player and a coach to consistently establish UTD as a premier rugby school. With recruitment numbers steadily growing for the
team, the Comets are now considered a Division II school when participating in playoff tournaments. “The competition was good, but we were just a little bit better,” Wagner said. “The guys have really stepped up and played very well to get us to where we are right now.” As a result of the growing numbers, the Comets are classified as a Tier One team, meaning they are matched up against Division II schools in the tournament. Edmund Miller, a junior 8-man, is one of the members assisting with persuading freshmen and sophomores to join the team. “I remember one game freshman year when we had 16 people to go down to Austin with,” Miller said. “Now you actually have to try out to make the squad for the week, and it stepped up our seriousness in that aspect.” Wagner said the victory against the SMU Mustangs meant the most to him. He assisted the SMU team from 2001 until 2009, when he led them to two third-place victories in the Texas Rugby Union Division II Championships. When he came to UTD, he sought to beat his old school, and did so in a 1010 rout.
MADELINE AMBROSE | MERCURY STAFF
The UTD rugby team practices tackling drills at the fields on Feb. 15 in preparation for the upcoming playoffs. The playoff tournament will be held Feb. 24-25 at Angelo State University.
“My goal was to turn the ship around and beat SMU as badly or worse,” Wagner said. “To beat them 101 to nothing was really huge.” The Comets compete in the playoff tournament on Feb. 24 and 25 at Angelo State University. With about a month to prepare, they look to make
a deep run and come home with the championship trophy. “We’re not very big, so we can’t go toe-to-toe with (the other teams), but we have to beat them with our smarts and our quickness,” Wagner said. “Every year can be different, so it’s going to be interesting to see how we do.”
ETHAN CHRISTOPHER | MERCURY STAFF
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NEWS
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→ SHREENA
→ INTERNET
Bill Pettit said. In her time on the golf team, Bhakta was on UTD’s Top 10 36-hole tournament list and represented the Comets as one of the three golfers sent to the 2017 ASC tournament. Pettit, who led the athletic department in hosting an open forum with student athletes in the wake of Bhakta’s passing, said she was a good teammate and a good representative of UTD athletics. “She was a sweetheart and we were lucky she was here for a year,” he said. “She was a good kid and we’re going to miss her.” Bhakta would go out of her way to meet new people and be kind to them, Glava said. She was also caring with her friends. “One of my favorite memories is that she would never let go of a hug first, and she always gave the best hugs,” she said. In her honor, Delta Zeta hosted a fundraiser on Feb. 8. The proceeds will be used to start a scholarship in Bhakta’s name to send a child to the Callier Center for Communication Disorders’ summer camp.
solved at 6:17 a.m. later that day. Part of the reason for the lengthy outage was the fact that it involved a single point of failure — specifically, the border router — within the UTD network, Dourty said. The router has some level of redundancy built in, such as a backup power supply, but does not have a backup controller. “That’s something we’ve been working over the course of the last year to rectify,” Dourty said. “Unfortunately, this outage occurred before we could complete those efforts.” Dourty said Cisco engineers were unable to conclusively determine whether the outage was caused by a hardware or software issue within the border router. To prevent a similar problem from reoccurring, the router was entirely replaced. “We take every outage as an opportunity to learn and document how we can do it better next time, and what we can do to avoid having the same problem reoccur,” he said.
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happy to be here and everything I’ve heard so far has been positive and encouraging.” The schools in the program include Moises E. Molina High School, Franklin D. Roosevelt High School, H. Grady Spruce High School, the School of Business and Management at Yvonne A. Ewell Townview Center and W.T. White high School. The program’s first cohort attending UTD is composed of 15 freshmen in the 2018-2019 school year. These students will join the program during the remainder of their senior year before enrolling next fall. Program director Billy Schewee led the students on their campus tour and explained the qualifications required to join the program. “When they’re in high school, really all we’re looking for is they attend one of the five high schools, and they’re driven,” Schewee said. “To earn the scholarship on the back end, there’s some academic requirements involved.” The qualifications to earn a scholarship include a 3.75 GPA, a 26 ACT score and a 1270 SAT
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two main events: limited prepared speech and prepared speech. Limited prepared speech is primarily characterized by the short amount of time contestants have to plan speeches. They are given a topic selected by the hosting judges, and 30 minutes of preparation to give a seven-minute speech. Prepared speech, on the other hand, typically has students select a topic
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MACKENZIE GLAVA | COURTESY
Members of the Delta Zeta sorority painted the spirit rocks in honor of Bhakta's passing. Paintings include handprints from each sorority member, as well as an elephant, Bhakta's favorite animal.
score. Students then apply for federal and state financial aid, while the scholarship covers all remaining costs of attendance. Danielle Petters serves as principal at Spruce High School, one of the five participating in the Young Scholars Program. Petters said UTD’s reputation as a premier university, as well as its proximity to the high school’s campus, are drawing students in to the program. Petters added that parents are excited about the program, bringing them ease of mind by providing a clear roadmap to send their children to college. “Most of our students would be the first in their family to attend college,” Petters said. “I think this is the biggest and best example of the community partnering with a school to build a (college) pipeline.” Pirkul explained that while the program has been on his mind for the past 10 years, development and planning began one year ago. The program’s funding comes from endowments and fundraising efforts such as Executive Education Operations and the school’s Advisory Board, both of which provide income that’s put back
into JSOM and its programs. “(The Young Scholars) Program is a significant program, and it will take significant resources,” Pirkul said. “I wanted to be sure that when and if we launched it, that it would be successful and it would
have the necessary resources and attention ... to make it a success.” The program is planned to expand to other Dallas ISD high schools in the future, and Pirkul said he hopes other UTD schools will begin offering similar pro-
grams when they’re ready. He added that for now, the Young Scholars Program is helping disadvantaged students realize their dreams of going to college. “I think the real work is going to take place in working with these
kids in the high schools and using our students to help them,” Pirkul said. “You know, give our students an opportunity to work with them and help them, number one, imagine that they can go to college, number two, accomplish it.”
beforehand to present. Skiles said the criteria judges use when evaluating speeches include the originality, quality of the research and content, organization and a rhetorical style. Competing individuals need to demonstrate they have gone to credible sources, even occasionally interviewing individuals with authority. For prepared speech, students choose topics early in the competitive cycle and begin writing their speeches.
“I’ve grown up with the idea that my speeches end up becoming my babies,” Cotts said. “That I write them in the beginning of the year. And so for the entire year, I’m preparing this one speech that I’m constantly revising trying to make my own personal performance better.” By choosing topics that personally affect them and by doing independent research, students become more informed about their opinions and about the world around them, Zahid said.
In this way, competitors learn to speak up with resolution. “I think that (UTD Speech) helps with the academic discourse because it doesn’t discriminate based on whether (students) are Republican, Democrat or what religion or ethnicity you are,” Zahid said. “It’s more about diversity. You have an opinion and you have a voice and you should be able to speak it.” While the topics of competitive speech has evolved over
time, the role of speech in creating a critical discourse on current issues has remained constant. “It’s so that every generation is going to have their own area of interest,” Skiles said. “Students are going to speak to what’s presently happening in the culture. So the topics have changed because they will, and that’s natural and that’s what’s fun about it, because as the world changes, needs and interests change. You’ve got all a whole new set of topics students
get to pick from.” UTD Speech gives members the opportunity to develop their ideas and stances, as well as providing guidance. Skiles and the officers provide critique in both the writing and presentation so students may improve their speaking ability. “Find your topic, find what’s important to you,” Zahid said. “Find what you’re passionate about and let us know, and we’ll help you write it up and talk about it.”
SCOTT BOOTH | COURTESY
Founders of the Jindal Young Scholars Program hosted the kickoff event Dec. 5. There were 84 students from five different high schools attending.
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more dialogues between professors and students in order to educate the members on the concepts they are promoting through service. “It comes from the natural tendency of people to become invested in their path and the track that they’re on,” Mayfield said. “A lot of times, there’s a push to get on your track and finish and stay focused on that, but I think it’s important, as far as becoming a well-rounded person … to explore the arts or whatever is not in your field.” Scott Segura, a biology senior, joined the organization last semester and participated in the outreach projects. He never had a chance to enroll in any artistic enrichment courses at the university, and he said the organization is a way to experience college outside of one’s career path and learn familiar concepts from other perspectives. “Everyone likes to think that art and science are two different things,” he said. “The whole idea of being a right hemisphere or left hemisphere is wrong from a science perspective, both sides are doing
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or message her via social media or text to leave specific requests for their cakes. Though creating cakes from start to finish can take several hours, Nair said she enjoys the whole process. She said the two aspects of baking — baking and decoration — come natural to her, as she had always had a knack for baking and a love for art. She credits the popularity of her cakes to her art skills, because each cake she makes is decorated differently. “I’ve always been really into painting and drawing,” she
LIFE&ARTS
the same thing. So it’s a good matchup, art takes a lot from science, science takes a lot from art and both take a lot from nature.” The first speaker in the talk series is professor of aesthetic studies Charissa Terranova. Her work incorporates the 21st century concept of bio art, involving artists working in labs to look for different patterns than what scientists look for in cells. Terranova said she believes this effort is a positive step in the direction of providing UTD students with a holistic education they can use to become competitive in the workforce. “(I envision) that it lasts in perpetuity and … might create something like a polymathy curriculum,” Terranova said. “Polymathy is not just a top-down, divine inspiration, where you’re genetically touched and special … you could actually have students from UTD working from their freshman year up to their senior year learning how to be polymaths, and I see Symbiosis as part of something like that.” Arts and humanities senior lecturer Dianne Goode is the faculty sponsor for the association, and she said she has
confidence in the students who formed the organization, as well as the university’s plan to embrace the arts as legitimate to every degree program. “(Symbiosis) is different because it is a bridge,” Goode said. “They are pioneering in a way of a national movement at various levels of education to inject more arts into the sciences. We, in the arts and humanities, are a very interdisciplinary department, and that made us different from other universities.” With her background in the arts, Goode said she understands the importance of art education in students, which is something Symbiosis plans to extend to DISD, with approval of the Victor Worsfold Grant, in order to promote inclusion of the arts starting from a younger age. “Pre-med students are the officers, they all love the arts, and they feel that the degree program in science, where they are, doesn’t give enough opportunity, understandably so,” Goode said. “They are on a very serious track, but this is a group of students feeling that they want to bring more awareness to other UTD — mainly science — majors about the arts.”
said. “In my mind, a cake is just another canvas.” Nair said her most memorable bake was a cake that she prepared for her friends’ joint 21st birthday. She spent four hours creating a cake with eight different types of chocolate so her friends could be “chocolate-wasted.” She said she continues her passion for baking, even with a busy schedule of classes and extracurricular activities because she knows people will like what she bakes. “Honestly, making people happy is my favorite part of (baking),” Nair said. “If I know that I can make what they want and if I know that it’ll make them happy,
I always go, ‘Why not?’” Nair said she hopes to continue baking in the future, though medical school will probably not leave her with as much time to do what she loves. She said she has dreamed of opening a bakery since she was a little kid and hopes to achieve that dream. “I told my parents when I was 10 that I wanted to be a parttime baker and a part-time doctor, which I realize now, isn’t going to be the case,” Nair said. “But once things settle down a little bit after medical school and everything, I would love to make this into an actual store.”
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UPCOMING EVENTS TEA TUESDAYS Join the Women’s Center for a refreshing cup of tea.
Feb. 20, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m., SSB 4.300
VALENTINE'S FOR ALL Celebrate love with crafts, food and a photo booth.
Feb. 21, 6 - 8:30 p.m., Residence Hall West
ENGINEERPALOOZA Spend an afternoon hanging out with ECS student groups.
Feb. 23, 1 - 4 p.m., VCB Atrium
MIRRORS ON THE MALL Share positive body image messages with the UTD community.
Feb. 27, 12 - 2 p.m., Chess Plaza
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OPINION
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Black history is more than slavery, civil rights Celebrating African-American heritage means learning to appreciate its origins, their effects on modern-day global society CINDY FOLEFACK COMMENTARY
During February, UTD and our nation as a whole take the time to celebrate black heritage and culture, yet they forget that black history is more than the slave trade and Civil Rights movement. Erasing the African roots of black heritage omits a large part of black identity and the modern-day traditions that came from those origins. Throughout Black History Month, UTD organizations host various events focused on black southern identity. As the daughter of Cameroonian immigrants, soul food was never a part of my diet and blues music wasn’t part of my family’s history. Instead, we ate traditional dishes and listened to bikutsi, a musical genre native to Cameroon. According to a 2017 report from Pew Research Center, the number of black African immigrants living in the United States grew 174 percent between 2000 and 2015. The African population is growing, but their culture and traditions have yet to be appreciated and celebrated as much as those of the black southern community, especially during Black History Month. We acknowledge and praise the sacrifices made by black activists, but
during Martin Luther King’s civil rights campaigns and Malcolm X’s calls to action, African nations such as Mali, Togo and Guinea were fighting European superpowers for their independence. My grandmother told me stories from the Cameroonian Independence War, where she was forced to hide in the brush to shield herself and my unborn uncle from the gunfire of French troops. Black lives were lost on two continents for the same cause: freedom. According to an article in Jacobin magazine, the fight for Cameroonian Independence led to approximately 76,000 civilian deaths, particularly in the Bamileke region, a population that makes up a large part of my dad’s village, Dschang. People from both populations have given up their lives in the name of independence and equality, yet we only acknowledge the sacrifices of one. At the February 2017 Grammys, black artists including Kendrick Lamar and Beyonce paid homage to ancient African kingdoms in their performances, with Beyonce’s portrayal of Oshun, the goddess of fertility and love for the Yoruba people of Nigeria. Additionally, the dashiki became a symbol of black power in the 1960s and continues to be one today, but its roots can be traced to West Africa. In fact, Martin Luther King visited former Ghanaian Prime Minister Kwame Nkrumah to take notes on the accomplishments the nation had made
thanks to non-violent protest. The black pride movement has taken off among millennials as they embrace their heritage, with $1.5 million spent on AncestryDNA testing kits during Black Friday. But in all this fervor about pride and acceptance, we’ve forgotten to appreciate the very thing we’re meant to take pride in: our roots can be traced back to Africa, but it’s consistently left out of Black History Month. Marvel’s “Black Panther,” released Feb. 16, depicts a fictional African nation called Wakanda, and portrays it as a country that wasn’t tainted by colonization. In the film, Wakanda is considered the most technologicallyadvanced nation in the world, and in a show of appreciation for black excellence, millennials of color are flocking to see the movie. In fact, the film raked in $25.2 million in midnight previews alone. While the movie is spurring a renewed appreciation of African nations, it shouldn’t take the creation of a fictional country for the continent to gain recognition and be a source of pride for black millennials. According to their website, Kenya’s Vision 2030 is a development policy that’s set to industrialize the nation and improve the country’s standing on the world stage by 2030. African countries are no longer seeing themselves as the third world, and it’s about time we do the same. Keeping up with current African
CHRISTI LAZUTKIN | MERCURY STAFF
events through outlets such as Africanews can help with understanding the present state of African nations and how they’ve moved forward despite a past of colonialism and military violence. Additionally, Levers in Heels routinely honors the accomplishments of African women in STEM, and major news outlets such as CNN and Al Jazeera cover events in African nations.
February is a month that gives the black population a chance to look back on their achievements while also planning for the future, in terms of progressing to full social, political and economic equality through movements such as Black Lives Matter. By acknowledging and including African blacks in a celebration of our heritage, we can learn more about black identity and the cultural roots that inspired civil rights leaders.
Comets and Craters Census pick dropped Political science professor Thomas Brunell is no longer being considered for deputy director of the Census Bureau. The role would have put him in charge of the 2020 census.
New housing community A new Living Learning Community will be available for first-generation freshmen this fall. The housing option will provide help with student finances, class registration and housing applications.
False fire alarms On the morning of Feb. 12, Northside residents were awaken on three separate instances when the fire alarms went off. It was later found that there was a water leak, which damaged the fire panel, as well as a resident who disconnected their fire alarms.
ETHAN CHRISTOPHER | MERCURY STAFF
COMET COMMENTS
In light of recent events, how do you feel about campus safety? HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY? Students interested in writing opinions can email editor@utdmercury.com.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
“I personally feel safe. However, I do feel that that is slowly changing. As of right now, I feel safe, but something needs to be done. I’m not sure what, but something needs to be done.”
“Honestly, I’ve felt pretty safe on campus ... but obviously, there are things happening around us in schools, and Texas has pretty extreme gun laws in my opinion, so that’s always something that’s in the back of my mind.”
“I’ve never personally felt threatened on campus, but I know we have open carry, even in classrooms. It’s an underlying worry, but I’ve never personally been harassed or felt in danger at all.”
Ahrar Anwar Computer Science Graduate
Amisha Mehta Biology Sophomore
Abhinav Thummala Biology Senior
Letters must be 250 words or less. Students should include their full name, major and year. Faculty, staff and administrators should include their full name and title. Email letters to editor@utdmercury. com. Although electronic copies are preferred, a hard copy can be dropped off at the reception desk of the Student Media suite (SU 1.601). Please include a headshot. Authors may only have one letter printed per edition of The Mercury.
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Apart from your name and photo, personal info will not be published. We reserve the right to reject submissions, and we cannot be responsible for their return. We reserve the right to edit for clarity, brevity, good taste, accuracy and to prevent libel.
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